Scott Barr is the RCN wrestling “guru”. He has even written a book about District XI wrestling which goes back to its inception. This past weekend, Scott announced the District XI individual wrestling championships as he has done for so many years. He, along with Jim Best, did their usual impeccable job. But one occurrence happened for Scott while doing the match that has NEVER happened before – the Easton Red Rovers did not crown a champion! I asked him to reflect on the end of what came to be known as “The Streak”. Here is his essay:
And, so, it’s over.
Just like that, when the buzzer sounded on the final weight class of the 2016 District XI Wrestling Championships, it was over. After 14 championship bouts, for the first time since 1947, none of the winners was wearing an Easton Red Rover singlet. All I could muster, on the air, was, “It feels weird.”
Jack Logic first told me about “The Streak” in the late 1980’s. Nobody except Jack was really talking about it, but it was a remarkable accomplishment even then. By the turn of the century, with The Streak still intact, I began calling it “the greatest streak in all of high school sports.” Though I can be prone to exaggeration, I believed this statement to be true.
When Dick Rutt won the first championship, ever, for the Red Rovers, Harry Truman was president. It was the first time that Easton had ever fielded a team. His coach was Gust Zarnas, a man who played professional football for the Bears and Packers before World War II. Last week, we were in Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium to see if Easton could crown their 186th champion, 69 years later. Of course, they could not, and The Streak went from reality to immortality.
There were years where the Red Rovers had only one champion. Bob Ferraro, Dwight Danser, Dan Kasperkowski, Greg Geiger, and Elijah Brown come to mind. More often, multiple champions represented the legendary teams from Easton. In 1949, there were nine champions. In 1996, the first seven weight classes had Red Rover champions. A friend of mine, Pete Stoelzl, was crowned as the 100th champion in Easton history in the mid-1980’s.
The Streak was already six years old when Steve Powell, Easton’s current coach, was born. Steve is on my “Mount Rushmore” of District XI wrestling, and I can’t imagine the pressure he has endured throughout his tenure. He told me, years ago, that he never thought about keeping The Streak alive. I’m sure he was lying. By tournament time, for the past 10 years, it’s all anyone was thinking about.
Face it—no matter who you cheer for, you liked The Streak. When you talked with wrestling fans in other parts of the country, you told them about it. And you spoke with pride about how tough District XI is in wrestling. You may even have called it “Wrestling Country”. And you told those folks how one school has epitomized the consistent excellence produced in this area. You have been amazed by The Streak, and you wanted them to be amazed, too.
Perhaps, in a way, it’s fitting that 2016 should be the end. This season, District XI Wrestling has lost icons Ray Nunamaker and Tony Iasiello who passed last summer. Bill McCoach, the “voice” of the wrestling tournament for 50 years, has announced that he will not return. Bob Kern, the long-time referee and coach, announced his retirement as well. And now, we will not have The Streak, either.
At the end, it was long-time rivals from Nazareth and Northampton that had the honor of dispatching The Streak. It was a merciful blow, dealt by deserving champions. Like Maximus lying on the floor of the Coliseum in the climactic scene of “Gladiator”, we all knew that the time had come to honor this ‘once in forever’ accomplishment. None of us will be here when this record is broken.
Indeed, the wrestling gods have spoken and The Streak is dead. Long live The Streak.
